


Love Wins

by machtaholic (cinderella81)



Category: The Magicians (TV)
Genre: Episode: s03e05 A Life in the Day, M/M, Reminiscing, Welters Challenge 2018
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-14
Updated: 2018-05-14
Packaged: 2019-05-06 22:20:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 801
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14657394
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cinderella81/pseuds/machtaholic
Summary: When Rupert returns from a hunting trip, he witnesses a private moment between his fathers that makes him realize that, like the mosaic, love takes more than one shape.





	Love Wins

Rupert whistled to himself as he made his way through the forest back home. At seventeen, his Dad and Papa El allowed him to venture by himself out into the forest to hunt for food for them. Living so far away from town had both its advantages and disadvantages; it was quiet, but too far to easily go barter for food.

At first someone had gone with him while hunting, either Dad or Papa El, while the other worked on the mosaic. As Rupert got older, his parents got more lenient, so long as he was home before the sun set.

Rupert smiled to himself as he reached the clearing and saw smoke coming from the chimney. It had started getting colder and his parents weren’t as young as they used to be, which meant they went through more firewood then they did when Rupert was younger. On more than one occasion he’d heard his Papa El mutter to himself under his breath about the fact that he and Dad were getting old.

“We’re getting fucking old.”

It was a common phrase both his Dad and Papa El muttered on occasion nowadays. They both tried to curse out of Rupert’s earshot, at least when he’d been younger. The older Rupert had gotten, the less care they’d shown with regard to their language around him.

“He’s going to learn it anyway.”

Rupert adjusted the deer strapped to his back as he got closer to the house. He expected to see either Dad or Papa El working on the mosaic, as was their habit, but the clearing in front of their home was empty. The mosaic was completed, and Dad and Papa El’s sketchbook lay on the big daybed, open to the page with the newest design sketched in it. 

Rupert’s stomach clenched a bit. From the time he’d been old enough to understand, Dad and Papa El tried to explain their situation to him. It had been difficult to comprehend at first - that they could both disappear at any moment. With every mosaic they finished, they got closer and closer to finishing their quest; although Rupert could remember a period of a few years when the mosaic sat untouched. When Dad and Papa El put all their focus on him, on each other, on coping with the loss of Mom.

“Dad?” Rupert called as he set the deer down near the front door of the house. “Papa El?”

When Rupert didn’t get a response, he cautiously entered the house, looked around and noticed the food bowls and cups on the table half finished. Had Dad and Papa El finished the mosaic, gone inside to celebrate and were suddenly sent back?

“If we’re ever not here, know that we love you.” It was what they told him every time Rupert went out on his own. In case he came home and found them gone.

When Rupert found the living area empty, he ventured to Dad and Papa El’s bedroom to see if maybe they were taking a nap.

The door to the bedroom was open, so Rupert poked his head in to check and see if Dad and Papa El were there. He stood there frozen for a minute before slapping one hand over his eyes and the other hand over his mouth to keep from waking them. He took a few steps back and went into the living area where he started to clean up a bit.

He had to smile a bit, though, at the sight of Dad and Papa El. Dad’s head had been pillowed on Papa El’s chest, one of Papa El’s hands was wrapped in Dad’s hair while the other rested possessively on Dad’s back under his hair.

Rupert cleared the food bowls and cups off the table and washed them in the sink. It was another conversation they’d had, once Rupert had gotten older, about Dad and Papa El’s relationship. Dad had been awkward and stuttering and Papa El had been almost embarrassingly blunt.

Dad and Papa El loved each other. Well, Rupert knew that even before Mom had passed away. He would always see them hug each other, even kiss each other. Dad kissed Papa El the same way he’d kissed Mom. 

“Love is love, Rupert. We take it wherever and whenever it comes. I love your father and Eliot loves your father, too. And that is okay.” His mother had always been very accepting of the … complicated relationship, she, Dad and Papa El had.

Rupert put the clean dishes away and then headed outside to begin preparing the deer. As he sat down and began skinning the deer, he thought back on the relationship his dad and Papa El had and smiled.

He could only hope he experienced the kind of love his dad had.


End file.
